Roswell public safety to get new laptops

The city signed a $265,875 contract with Dell, which held the lowest of nine bids. Each laptop with its own docking station and power supply will cost the city about $3,700.

“Over the years, we have had quite an assortment of computers both within City Hall and through our public safety system,” Councilmember Rich Dippolito said. “As we’ve been outgrowing these computers and as they’ve been growing outdated, what we’ve done is sign a lease agreement with Dell that will save us money.”

The lease agreement will provide the city with these new computers, and after four years if they have any value, Dell will buy the computers back. Then the city will renew its contract and receive a whole new set of computers.

“Previously, we were buying pieces when we needed them, and it wasn’t very efficient,” Dippolito said. “We didn’t get the benefit of putting a whole system out to market at one time.”

The agreement also provides the city with a consistent cost over four years. Roswell’s annual lease payment will be about $140,000. The docking station and power supply will have a one-time cost of about $126,000.

“We had the employees give some input,” said Michael Fischer, deputy city administrator. “We also did some field testing and test runs.”

The laptops are considered “ruggedized laptops,” so they are designed to operate in harsh conditions and environments.